Appraisal Guidelines and Criteria

5 Analysis of Archival Appraisal

Functional Analysis An examination of who created the record and for what purpose to determine the evidential or informational significance of records. Content Analysis Evaluation of subjects significance or topics documented in the records and then determine how well the information in the records document those subjects

Context Analysis In a broader context, it examines the comparative relationship between the information in the records and other available information.
Use Analysis Know the potential uses that are likely to be made of the records and the physical, legal, and intellectual impediments to access. Cost-Benefit Analysis Weighs the value of the information in a record against the cost of preservation.

Selecting Records for their Intrinsic Value

Intrinsic Value the value inherent in a document that requires permanent retention in its original physical form

Qualities and Characteristics of Records with Intrinsic Value

1. Physical form that may be the subject for the study 2. Aesthetic or artistic quality 3. Unique or curious physical features 4. Age that provides a quality of uniqueness 5. Value for use in exhibits 6. Questionable characteristics ascertainable by physical examination (authenticity, date, author)

7. General and substantial public interest because of direct association with a famous or historical significance ( people, places, things, issues or events) 8. Significance as documentation of the establishment or continuing legal basis of an agency or institution 9. Significance as documentation of the formulation of policy at the highest executive levels

Evidential Values

Evidential Values
Values that attach to records because of the evidence they contain of an organization and function Value that depends on the character and importance of the matter evidenced i.e. the origin and the substantive programs of the agency that produced the records. Not the quality of the evidence per se but the character of the matter evidenced.

Reason for test of evidential values

An accountable government should preserve some minimum evidence on how it was organized and how it functioned. Archivists assume that the minimum record to be kept is the record of organization and functioning. Beyond this minimum values, becomes debatable. Records containing such facts (patterns of action, policies to deal with all classes of matters, its procedures, its gross achievement) are indispensable to the govt and to students of govt, Storehouse of administrative wisdom and experience Gives consistency and continuity to its actions. Contain precedents for policies, procedures and can be used as a guide to public administrators in solving problems of the present or for avoiding past mistakes.

The test of evidential value

The archivist must know how records came into being if he is to judge their value for any purpose. The archivist is likely to preserve records that have other values as well - not only for public administrator and the students of public administration, but also for the economist, sociologist, and historian. And scholars generally. Archivist must know the significance of particular groups of records produced in relation to major programs or functions.

Applying the test of evidential value

1. Which organizational units in the central office of an agency have primary responsibility for making decisions regarding its organization, programs, policies, and procedures? Which organizational units carry on activities that are auxiliary to making such decisions? Which record series are essential to reflect such decisions?

Applying the test of evidential value

2. To which functions of an agency do the records relate? Are they substantive functions?

Which record series are essential to show how each substantive function was performed at each organizational level in both the central and field offices?

Applying the test of evidential value

3. What supervisory and management activities are involved in administering a given function? What are the successive transactions in its execution? Which records pertain to the executive direction, as distinct from the execution of the function? To what extent are such records physically duplicated at various organizational levels? Which records summarize the successive transactions performed under the function? Which record should be preserved in exemplary form to show the work processes at the lower organizational levels?

Informational values

Informational values
The values that attach to records because of the information they contain. May relate either to: Persons - individuals or corporate bodies Things - places, buildings, physical objects, other material things Phenomena - what happens to person or things, conditions, problems, activities, programs, events, episodes, etc.

Tests of informational values

1. Uniqueness Consider: a) uniqueness of information b) The uniqueness of the records that contain the information. Uniqueness - means that the information contained in particular public records is not to be found in other documentary sources in a complete and as usable a form.

Information in public records is seldom completely unique.

Tests of informational values

2. Form
Consider: a. The form of the information b. The form of the records.

Relates to the physical condition of the public records. Records should be in a form that would enable other than those who created them to use them without difficulty and resort to expensive mechanical or electronic equipment.

Tests of informational values

3. Importance An archivist assumes that his first obligation is to preserve records containing information that will satisfy the needs of the government itself, private scholars and the public generally. He should not preserve records for very unlikely users Research values are important in aggregates of records, not from information o n single item. Records are collectively important if the info they contain is useful for studies of social, economic, political or other phenomena Records relating to person or things may have individual research value. The more important the person, or thing, the more important is the record relating to it.

The Appraisers Skills and Knowledge

General Skills and Knowledge

 Understanding historical research methods and changing patterns of historiography Knowing the general contours of history, particularly of the modern era

Familiarize with trends in institutional development and bureaucratic organizations Knowledge of records keeping and information technology

Repository-specific knowledge and skills

 a thorough knowledge of the repositorys mandated field of acquisition, its historical background, significant characteristics and development, and current dimensions
a detailed understanding of the entities and functions that create the records

a knowledge of the records as they relate to each other and to other documentary sources

The Appraisal Process

Staffing Unit of Analysis Record Analysis The Appraisal Report Reviewing and approving appraisal recommendations

The Appraisal Process

Intuitive or structured?
Is formal appraisal necessary? Archivists know their holdings and know the priorities of their clients.those that does not formally align with a structure Factor: number of materials